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Friday, March 30, 2012

How to make a string on your tiles. This is a constant challenge for me. I always feel like I am making the same string or at the very least, a variation on the same one over and over again. This is why I like when The Diva puts out a string challenge. I get stuck in a rut and it's nice to have a new way of looking at strings.

This week the Challenge is to divide the space in a uniform way. The challenge is called Fortune teller as the tile is divided much the same way that paper is folded for making those little fortune teller games we played with as kids. Click the link for more on what the string looks like.

At first I was going to blur the lines in this challenge. I tend to make a string and then confine myself to the sections drawn as if I were coloring a coloring book picture. I didn't get very far. I started with Chainging up the center but that is as far as I got. Habits are hard to break but I carried that thought to a piece that I am currently working on. You'll see more on that later.

I decided to explore the triangles a bit instead. You'll see on the right where I didn't "close off" the tangles there and instead allowed the tangles to spill over the edges. I don't think this is a great tile. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with it. It just didn't end where I thought it would go. But that is the way of art isn't it? My professors in college never accepted the idea that art could get messed up or go wrong. Instead they advised to keep working and turn the mistake into a "Happy Accident". I always try to keep that in mind when I hit a part that I don't like. I try to push on through and see what kind of happy accident I can make.

Friday, March 23, 2012

I just wanted to do a quick post on where the pattern Curio came from. Here!

It's down there in the bottom right. I have an online friend who lives in Ogden, UT that has opened a new little shop. She asked people to send her postcards as she wants to post them all around her shop. I had a 5X7" piece of watercolor paper around so I decided to make her a tangle. I started with the word and went from there. You can't see it in the photo here, but Curiosities has glitter on the letters. I used the glitter pen from Sakura. This is the first time I used HighC's and am really excited what happens to it when you put it in squares. When I do it right it really looks art nouveau-ish. :)

Anyway, this was really fun to do. I might try some Zentangle inspired art with words in the future.

This week a new zentangle pattern came out. It is called Fengle. As with many tangle patterns that are curved and "free flowing", Fengle presented a bit of a challenge to me. So many of you are seemingly able to produce these lovely effortless swirls and curves and I will confess, I am jealous. Anything that is more than a ) shape taunts me to no end. I need to work on curves rather than allow them to have this power over me.

With this in mind, I did this week's challenge from the Diva. I wasn't going to do this one and use a wedding gift I am working on as an excuse not to try. But, I bit the bullet and jumped in. I ended up with more than 5 "arms" on this tangle. One of my problems with this is my spacing. Some seem too close together while other have a Grand Canyon of space between. So, I filled the canyon with another S.

I was going to stop and leave Fengle on the tile alone but I couldn't leave it alone. I love the idea of a pattern in the "open" space of Fengle. I added the stripe and am pretty pleased as to how it turned out. The "arms" aren't so separate here as they are in the work of others. I'll need to keep working on that. I decided to add some small tangles in the spaces between the arms. Just to keep it from being too blank more than anything.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Marizaan van Beek a CZT from South Africa is hosting The Diva's challenge this week. What a challenge it is! Marizaan challenged us to use paradox in a spiral. Every time I see a triangle, I am prepared to fill the space with Paradox but to put Paradox in a spiral? Hum, that was a mind bender. However, I decided to jump right in and see what happens. I have learned that sometimes tangles look very different when used in a new way. What can it hurt?

I drew a spiral on the tile and got started. It wasn't so hard really. I don't make Paradox as lovely as Marizaan does, but I don't think I do so bad. (You should click the link above and seemarizaan's tile.) There were times though that I was afraid that the spiral would get lost in the drawing. I decided to go in with a 05 micron and draw the spiral with a heavier line. I also made a small black oval at the center to make a definite end to the spiral. After I got the spiral done, I decided to keep it simple and use Paradox in a square for the background. As for shading, I kept it SUPER simple and just shaded the spiral line and around the outside of the spiral itself.

This was a great challenge Marizaan thank you so much for it. Spirals are usually something that I don't use very much but I have to say, after this challenge, I am certainly going to explore more. Your tile is beautiful.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Hey Look! I found another new pattern. I was working on a 5X7 ZIA piece to send to a friend and decided to try something out that has been rolling around in my head. The result is this: Curio. So named for a business that this friend is about to open.

I think there are quite a few possibilities here to vary the pattern up a bit. I tried to think up a few in the larger example as well as play with the shading. I still haven't finished the piece I was working on. I decided I needed to stop and work out this pattern more. I'm off to complete the ZIA but wanted to publish this before I let too much time get by me.

It's the first challenge of a new month so that means a Use My Tangle challenge! This month the tangle is Golven by Mariet. I love this tangle. I have used it several times since Mariet published the steps. It is easy to use, not a lot of steps, and looks great shaded and unshaded.

I have used Golven as a border and in spaces before but I have never curved it before so I drew my string so that I would have a nice curved place to draw it. After I got Golven in, I experimented with the center a bit and decided to add stripes to the outer edge. The lines in Golven had me in a stripe mood so I also used Hollibaugh in my last little triangle of space. The shading in this one popped it all out for me.

I'm quite pleased with it. Thanks for taking a look! I can't wait to go and check out what everyone else has done.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

The Diva's challenge hit week sixty this week. The challenge was to use just two tangle patterns in the challenge. The two patterns were Cirquital and Munchin two patterns that I have never used before. I love the look of Munchin but have never tried it before. I'm not sure but it has intimidated me in the past. Cirquital hits all of my "problem" areas. Those being circles and curved lines. Mine never come out as I'd like them to so I tend to shy away from them. But, this challenge was to bring us out of our comfort zone and out I was.

I started with using 60 as a string. There was a little too much open space for me so I added another circle in there. I drew my Cirquital first and played with varying it up a bit. I think that the design is a bit severe when I draw it so future uses will be trying to soften it up a bit. I do like the overlapping of the curved lines though.
Next I started the Munchin. I worked on adding random dots in the upper left side and going from there as the steps indicated. I had some awkward spots though and I was unsure what to do with the empty places. I decided to color them in black. Next I tried doing Munchin in a less random way, starting with one triangle and then adding the next to it and so on. That worked for a bit but I ran into the same issues again. Then I tried a combination of the two approaches and like it OK. I still need to play with Munchin a bit to get comfortable with it but I did enjoy using the pattern.

I did this tile early in the week but then life got in the way so I'm posting this late. Often I find myself getting tiles finished in no time at all but then the challenge is getting my boys off the computer so I can blog about it.
I hope you all know how much I enjoy your feed back on my tiles. Please know I do see and love your work as well but sometimes getting to comment is just more than I can manage.

As always, thanks for looking and commenting. I hope you enjoy this one.